Now that I’ve completed my latest contemporary romance novel, The Scandal, I’ve been doing a copy edit for my debut contemporary romance novel, The Reunion.
I wrote The Reunion back in 2011, and it’s gotten four and five star reviews on Amazon. However, I’ve grown as a writer since then, and I want the writing style to be more consistent with my later work. A copy edit is when you make minor changes, such as eliminating filler words or rephrasing a sentence. The story content remains the same. It just reads a little smoother.
I finally finished yesterday morning, or so I thought, because as I took a break to do some household chores a new scene suddenly played through my mind.
A new scene and an updated version
Without spoiling the plot, I’ll simply say that one of the antagonists, who appears about halfway through the story, is thwarted. However, this villain did something illegal, and I never held her accountable for her actions. She simply disappeared once her plan failed. Looking back, I realized not addressing this was a mistake. Doing something against the law is simply wrong, and the character, albeit a minor one, should have been held accountable. The new scene is a conversation between Gillian, one of the lead characters, and Paul, her assistant, as they discuss the legal actions they intend to take against this antagonist. The scene ends with the reader feeling that their efforts will be successful, and it adds closure to the episode. The story then returns to the main conflict.
The rest of the story remains as is. The Reunion has been and always will be my favorite contemporary romance novel, as the inspiration from the story comes from someone I once knew, years ago, who has been and always will be near and dear to my heart.
Marina Martindale